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Bloomberg reported today, citing people familiar with the matter, that Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will temporarily halt some production at the company’s Shanghai factory until the end of February. The interruption facilitates the company’s plans to upgrade the factory to start rolling out a revamped version of its Model 3.
Tesla has been upgrading the lines in stages over the past two months, with deliveries of the new Model 3 sedan expected to begin later this year. However, the company has yet to publicly confirm delivery windows for the new model.
The revamp comes as Tesla faces increased competition in the world’s biggest electric-vehicle market. Model 3 sales in China have been declining, with about 125,000 of the sedans sold in 2022, a drop of 17% from the previous year.
According to the Passenger Car Association, total shipments of new-energy passenger vehicles to dealerships in China nearly doubled to 6.5 million in 2022. A further 30% increase is expected this year. Carmakers including NIO (HK:9866) (NYSE:NIO), Xpeng (HK:9868) (NYSE:XPEV)) and Geely Automobile Holdings (HK:0175) (OTC:GELYY) Ltd. are all rolling out new models in a battle for market share.
Shares of TSLA are up 1.41% in pre-market trading on Wednesday.
